- New "Escort" contract type on neutral job boards (minLevel 3): the player
links a persistent transport + 1-2 escort fighters at a local waypoint,
flies them through a seeded 1-2 hop gate route to a planet/station, and
delivers with the sky clear.
- TransportShip extends NeutralShip with a lapsed break-off window and a
`persistent` flag so CombatSystem's active/neutralOnly gates skip it; the
convoy never holds the jump gate or landing door open.
- Dedicated escort EncounterDirector (9-18s rolls, 85-100% chance) fires
mixed-fighter waves ~5x more frequently than normal encounters; one wave at
a time via the patrol contact's law.
- Transport loss fails the contract; landing on a planet resets it with a
fresh rendezvous in the current system and full-armor transport, same
destination.
- 20 unique escort dossier descriptions, reward band raised to 120-175 CR.
- Three new test suites: escort.test.mjs (model), escort-flow.test.mjs
(scene flow), escort-browser.test.mjs (real browser boot + board render).
- New EncounterDirector (js/combat/Encounters.js): pure, data-driven clock that rolls pirate / neutral / mixed encounters in neutral non-home systems on a ~45–90s interval at 50–60% chance, one at a time with a 30–60s cooldown, never during a live wave run or on a downed player.
- Neutral ally ships (js/combat/NeutralShip.js) on spritesheet frames 20–27: escort the player for a per-ship 10–15s window, engage the nearest pirate in mixed fights, then break off and fly off-screen; player-safe by construction (never targeted or damaged by ally bolts/seekers).
- Pirate targeting generalized so hostiles can draw aggro onto escorts when the player is out of range; escort and pirate bolts/missiles collide with each other but not the player.
- Group size scales with combat level (1–2 low → 4–5 high, bands in data/combat.json); encounter hostiles are one-shots so the fight ends when the sky clears.
- New 'volley' weapon pattern (wide staggered-speed fan) and owner-tagged bolts/missiles for ally vs enemy routing in Weapons.js.
- Neutral roster config + encounters section added to data/combat.json; EnemyTypes gains neutralTypeConfig/Ids/SheetList.
- Tests: dev/encounters.test.mjs (cadence, gate, weights, size bands), dev/neutral.test.mjs (roster, escort AI, targeting, no friendly fire), plus combat/xp test updates; CDP probes and encounter-hud-check for in-browser HUD verification.
- Enable the `bounty` category in data/sidequests.json with level-2 gate,
Neutral-only contexts, encounter chain odds, and 20 written leader dossiers
- Add pure bounty model to SideQuests.js: plan derivation, wave scripts, XP,
sequential waypoint rule, and completion only via the mark's kill
- Extend combat seam (Waves/CombatSystem/EnemyShip) for a named elite unit
deployed with the opening group at scaled hull/damage, plus haltWaves() so
killing the mark stops deployments while survivors stay hostile
- Wire GameScene/SurfaceScene/JobBoardWindow for locked rows, dossier readout,
sequential check-ins, engagement chain, and single idempotent claim
- Add dev/bounty-hunts.test.mjs (591 checks) and in-browser probe with JSON/PNG
evidence; update patrol/sidequests tests for the new live category
- New hostiles frames 1–7 (bomber → warden) with distinct stats and
monotonic difficulty ramp in data/combat.json
- Shared js/combat/Weapons.js dispatch for lance, spray, burst, rapid,
ring, missile, and combo patterns used by both combat contexts
- New dodgeable heat-seeking Missile (capped turn-rate homing) plus pure
geometry helpers in Combat.js
- Rewire ?combat boot to startWaves('combat_demo'): 7 rolling waves, one
type each, 6 ships per wave, 3 concurrent, replacement per kill
- Add missile_fire SFX voice and extend tests/CDP demo checks for all
patterns and the full wave run
- Void in-flight count-up tween when max changes so a late landing can't redraw against the old cap (250/250 → full after cap grew to 500)
- Add regression test for mid-count-up capacity restore voiding the stale tween
- Archive completed ship-screen goal and add ship.mp4 asset
- Wire the deck's SHIP slot to a full-screen ShipWindow (depth 80) following the Map/Quest window contract: bay-camera video panel with NO SIGNAL fallback, tab row, glitch/sweep dressing, ESC/scrim close, and exclusive open/close against research/map/quests/comms.
- Add data-driven Ship Status plate via pure js/ship/ShipScreenModel.js resolving every stat row from data/shipScreen.json (hull/shields live vs nominal, shield recharge, flight, fire rate/DPS, cargo/mineral holds) plus the combat level journey timeline that swaps to a CHOOSE YOUR CLASS door at level 5.
- Add Cargo Holds tab: bay grid with filled/empty/locked states, mineral aggregate bar, and a selected-bay manifest reusing TradeScout.scoutGood() for ranked exits in the buy/sell style.
- Register data/shipScreen.json in the manifest, preload ship.mp4 with skip-if-missing guard, and add dev test + screenshot harness (dev/ship-window.test.mjs, dev/ship-shot.{html,mjs}).
- Replace dot tracers with elongated glowing bolts (trail band + core streak + head bloom)
and a directional muzzle flare in both the range and main-game contexts.
- Add enemy impact reads: core flash, directional sparks along the travel vector,
cyan arc ripple on shield hits vs orange shards on hull hits, white craft hit-flash,
and a polished damage-number pop.
- Add player shield-sphere strike effect: full-sphere outline + bright arc centered on
the laser's incoming bearing, radial ripple, spark burst, and a shield-collapse cue
when shields break to hull.
- Add subtle world-camera shake on player hits, enemy kills, and shield-break while
keeping the HUD/combat bar perfectly still via the fx-ui camera split.
- Expose new visual knobs (bolt size/trail, muzzle, arc span, shake intensity) in
data/combat.json; fix Fx.update destroying ships on tintFlash expiry.
Brian Fertig